Mangoes and wins at Donington Park

Goes starts the season in style with victory at Round One

Sun 23 April 2017

Qualifying painted a familiar picture as it once again highlighted how competitive the class battles were in TDC. This was compounded by the one lap pace of some drivers, with Simon Clark able to split up the S Class Cars with his Class A Porsche Boxster. Qualifying pace of the Supatune MR2 also shone through, with a super effort by the team of Timpson and Tester putting the Toyota fourteenth on the grid, just under a second ahead of their closest rival. The Class D team of Cooper and Kellett also took their class pole in the Simply Car Sales Ford Fiesta.

With the top five on the grid covered by less than a second it was going to be a tight race!

When the lights went out it was the RWD cars as expected that got away the best at the front, swamping the Seat of Goes who bogged down on the line.

With the top cars all fighting for the inside line, there was contact between the Mangoes Racing Seat and the Racing with Prestige MR2, spinning the MR2 who collected the Auto Revive London BMW in the run down to Redgate; only a great piece of awareness and avoidance by M3F’s Mark Flower keeping the then leading BMW out of the melee, however the resulting trip across the gravel ultimately led the BMW to rejoin the circuit in the lower mid pack.

As the cars scrambled for position following the first corner incident it was the Class A Porsche Boxster of Clark racing that took the lead at the front, followed closely by the Seat of Goes and the Fiesta of Big Skidz Racing Teams Kester Cook. A brilliant start by the Class B Supatune Motorsport MR2 left them fourth, up from fourteenth on the grid!

As the leaders came out of Coppice for the first time the Safety car was scrambled neutralising the race. Over the line it was the Clarke Racing Boxster that led the Mangoes Racing Seat and Cook’s Fiesta, just ahead of the still-in-fourth Class B Supatune Racing MR2. Class C was headed up by the Tylah Motorsport Ford Fiesta of Alf Hyde in fifteenth up from twenty seventh on the grid, and Class D in turn by the Simply Car Sales Ford Fiesta of John Cooper and Alastair Kellett.

On the re-start it was the Clark Racing Porsche who caught Goes napping to sprint across the line with a second and a half lead. Cook pushing the Seat along the start line in the fiesta fractionally ahead of the Supatune MR2. Goes went defensive into Redgate but managed to regroup through the Craner Curves before having to go defensive through Starkeys Bridge and Schwantz Curve as Cook launched another attack.

Clark only managed to keep the Seat of Goes at bay until lap three, where a well planned move on the outside of Schwantz Curve allowed Goes the inside line into McLeans and the race lead. Clark wasn’t finished there and piled on the pressure for the next few laps. Just behind the BMW 235i had found a way past the Supatune MR2, bringing the VW Golf of Hobson and Sharp along with it, and was starting to put pressure Cook’s Fiesta.

The Class C battle took off following the restart with the Clio of Nofolk n’ Chance, Tylah Motorsports Fiesta and the Clio of PSR fighting hard in the run up to the pit stop window. PSR were ultimately able to gap the others before the round of pit stops.

As the pit window neared the Class A battle was heating up, as Lakeland Motorsports Ryan Steel was slowly catching the Hobson and Sharp VW Golf.

With the pit window now open it was Cook in the Fiesta who blinked first, opting for an early stop. This was a tactic adopted by Class A’s Luke Allen Racing in the Civic and Class D’s Moores Motors Fiesta.

On track, Steel in the Lakeland Motorsport Saxo managed to jump the Hobson and Sharp VW golf in the back markers just prior to the pair pitting on the same lap. A longer pit stop frustratingly for Steel, allowed the VW past, as the pair exited the pits to re-start the battle on track; the Saxo once again chasing down the VW.

A Safety Car period was called late in the pit stop window, to recover the stricken Metro of Millard Motorsport which had found its way into the gravel trap at the hairpin. This was of little help to most as many had opted to pit early, however it did allow the GNB BMW of Burstow to jump the Team Air Supply Porsche of Wright and Wright and the fast starting Supatune Motorsport MR2 to take the class lead following the pit window. This was a lead Burstow maintained until the end to take the class win.

In Class A, Simon Clark took a convincing class win, and second overall. Lakeland Motorsports Steel still chasing the Hobson and Sharp VW hard made his move towards the end of the race when the VW made a mistake at Roberts taking a trip across the gravel under the ever mounting pressure. This also allowed the Porsche Of McQ Motorsport past for third in class.

GNB’s Gary Burstow managed to hold his advantage from the pit window to taking the class win ahead of John Lyne in the Tylah Motorsport VW Golf who in turn managed to pass the Supatune Motorsport on the penultimate lap to claim second in class.

The Class C battle continued to rage with the Norfolk Clio chasing down the PSR car and finally making the pass with five laps to go. Tylah Motorsports Alf Hyde took a comfortable third in class following the OX4 MINI of Simon Reed suffering a pit stop penalty for a short stop.

Class D gave a light to flag victory for the Simply Car Sales Ford Fiesta. It was closer for second with the Moores Motors Fiesta of Paul Burn jumping the Supatune Puma of Jason Francis, however a short pit stop infringement for the Moores Motors car gave the position and second in class back to Francis in the Puma.